John Peter Smith (Montana politician)

For other uses, see John Peter Smith (disambiguation).
John Peter Smith
4th Mayor of Missoula
In office
August 6, 1885 – May 2, 1887
Preceded byThomas C. Marshall
Succeeded byDwight Harding
Personal details
BornOctober 1848
Pennsylvania
Other political
affiliations		Democratic
Spouse(s)Sophia Alice Hammer (1874- ?),
Ida Mary Reinicke (1887 - 1892)
ChildrenIda Lisetta (Smith) Cory
ProfessionMayor, Sawmill worker

John Peter Smith (Oct. 1848 – ?) was born in Pennsylvania to immigrant parents with his father from Germany and his mother from France.[1] He moved to Fort Madison, Iowa where he lived with Barbara Green, a widow also from Pennsylvania with French immigrant parents.[2]

In Iowa, Smith worked in a sawmill and married his first wife, Sophia Alice Hammer. After their daughter Ida Lisetta Smith was born in 1876, the family moved to Frenchtown, Montana in Missoula County.[3]

Smith was serving as an alderman in the newly incorporated city of Missoula in 1885 when he was appointed mayor pro tem on August 6 after Mayor Thomas C. Marshall resigned.[4] He was elected mayor in a special election on August 23 and served until May 2, 1887.[5]

Near the end of his term, Smith married Ida Mary Reinicke, the daughter of a prominent stockgrower and owner of the popular Reinicke House, which served as accomdations in Sun river Leavings, Montana.[6][7][8][9]

After serving as mayor, Smith once again divorced and in 1900 was living as an unemployed barber in the Albert R Zoske household. He later moved to Spokane, Washington to live with his daughter Ida and her husband Samuel W. Cory.[1][10]

References

  1. ^ a b "1900 U.S. Census". {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  2. ^ "1870 U.S. Census". {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  3. ^ "1880 U.S. Census". {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  4. ^ "Local Notes". The River Press. August 19, 1885. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
  5. ^ "Missoula's Democratic Mayor". The River Press. September 2, 1885. Retrieved September 20, 2014.
  6. ^ "Smith-Reinicke", Great Falls Tribune. January 8, 1887
  7. ^ "Smith-Reinicke", The River Press., January 12, 1887
  8. ^ "Progressive Men of the State of Montana". A. W. Bowen & Co. 1886.
  9. ^ The Benton Weekly Record. Sept. 3, 1880
  10. ^ 1910 U.S. Census